Blockchain Innovation: Interviewing The Brightest Minds In Blockchain

Latest Episodes:

036: Purse.io is Making Cryptocurrency Useful – with Jordan Crawford Mar 09, 2019

Show notes

Jordan Crawford was the Director of Growth at Purse.io. Their mission is to make crypto useful. Purse allows users to name their own discount when shopping on Amazon by matching shoppers with individuals who wish to exchange Amazon gift cards for cryptocurrency.

In this episode, we discuss:

How the Purse system works
Why it's critical for cryptocurrencies to be used in everyday transactions before they achieve mass adoption
The drawbacks of traditional payment networks like ACH (Automated Clearing House)

035: NASDAQ is Quietly Dominating Blockchain – with Johan Toll Feb 07, 2019

Show notes

Johan Toll is an Associate VP and leads Nasdaq's blockchain efforts. He received the prestigious "FinTech person of the Year" award from the Financial Technologies Forum in 2018. Johan is also a renowned blockchain thought-leader and frequent speaker and panelist.

In this episode, we discuss:

How Nasdaq is not just a stock market company, but a full-fledged FinTech firm
We go over how Nasdaq started experimenting with blockchain back in 2012, and how they created Nasdaq Linq, a blockchain-powered private share issuance platform that they used to become the first organization in the world to issue actual company shares on a blockchain in 2015
We also explore Nasdaq CEO, Adena Friedman's statement, that Nasdaq is open to becoming a cryptocurrency exchange

034: CFA Institute Embraces Blockchain – with Stephen Horan Jan 17, 2019

Show notes

Stephen Horan is the Managing Director of Credentialing at the CFA Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance and Economics, and is a former stock broker, portfolio manager, and finance professor.

In this episode, Stephen and I discuss:

What made the CFA Institute realize Blockchain and Cryptocurrency are here to stay
What type of material related to Blockchain will be included in the CFA curriculum
What type of impact Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies will have on the enterprise world

033: ICOs Go Mainstream on Indiegogo – with Jason White Aug 06, 2018

Show notes

Jason White heads up Indiegogo's equity crowdfunding and token sale platform. Indiegogo is one of the first ever crowdfunding sites. It was launched in 2008 and has raised over a billion dollars for its participants across 232 countries.

In this episode, we discuss:

How ICOs were an obvious part of Indiegogo's evolution
Indiegogo's first ICO – the Fan Controlled Football League (FCFL)
How Indiegogo adds value and performs rigorous

032: Ocean Protocol – The Future of Data, AI and Blockchain with Trent McConaghy Jun 20, 2018

Show notes

Trent McConaghy is the Co-Founder of Solido, Ascribe, BigchainDB and Ocean Protocol. He holds a PhD in Engineering and has a background in Computer Science.

In this episode, Trent and I discuss:

How Trent went from being raised on a pig farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, to being one of the world's top experts in Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
How companies like Facebook and Google are really just data companies that hoard data (and it looks like Ocean may change that)
The "ArtDAO" – a thought experiment on how an autonomous piece of AI code becomes independently wealthy. What does it do with the money?
The nuts and bolts of Ocean Protocol, Estonia's e-residency program (which Trent has advised Estonia on), and much more

031: Tech Giant IBM Goes All In on Blockchain with Jerry Cuomo Jun 06, 2018

Show notes

Jerry Cuomo is the Vice President of Blockchain Technologies at IBM. He is an IBM Fellow, veteran software engineer, and one of the founding fathers of IBM WebSphere.

In this episode, Jerry and I discuss:

How Jerry and his father are lifelong "IBMers." In fact, his father made a discovery in 1972 that eventually led to the invention of optical disks. Jerry recounts crawling through the hallways of the IBM Research Center in his diapers – true story
How IBM first embraced Ethereum before helping form Hyperledger
The IBM Blockchain Platform and how IBM is using blockchain to revolutionize supply chain management for big name clients like Walmart, Maersk, Dole, Kroger, and many more
Sovereign identity and private vs. public blockchains

030: Blockchain will be a 10-Trillion-Dollar Industry with RBC's Mitch Steves May 17, 2018

Show notes

Mitch Steves is a Silicon-Valley-based Research Analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

RBC Capital Markets is one of the top global investment banks with almost 2,000 deals and approximately $250 billion dollars in capital raised for clients in 2017.

Mitch made headlines at the beginning of 2018 when he published a report stating, "Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain could become a $10-trillion-dollar market in 15 years."

In this episode, Mitch and I discuss:

How his predictions may have driven up the price of Ether by over 1,000% in 2017
We review his report on blockchain and cryptocurrencies and discuss the rationale behind the $10-trillion-dollar figure
And, because he's a research analyst, I pick his brain on how to value cryptocurrencies and what best practices he recommends for ICOs

Please note, Mitch is providing his personal opinion in this interview, which may not reflect the views of his employer, RBC.

Also, for required disclosure on the companies discussed, please use the following disclosure link - https://www.rbccm.com/GLDisclosure/PublicWeb/DisclosureLookup.aspx?entityId=1

029: Move Aside Blockchain – Introducing Hashgraph with Leemon Baird May 04, 2018

Show notes

Dr. Leemon Baird is the inventor of Hashgraph and the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Swirlds Inc. He has a PhD in Computer Science and is also a successful entrepreneur and former professor.

Hashgraph is a new data structure and consensus algorithm.

**PLEASE NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the Hedera Public Ledger announcement.**

In this episode, Leemon and I discuss:

What a Hashgraph is. How does it compare to a Blockchain?
Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) – Leemon does a brilliant job of explaining this
Exciting use cases for Hashgraph. Hint: they already have a few big ones in the pipeline

028: Introducing Smart Legal Agreements and Dangers of the SAFT with Aaron Wright Apr 13, 2018

Show notes

Aaron Wright is a Professor of Law at the Cardozo School of Law in New York City.

He is also the co-inventor of OpenLaw – a blockchain-based protocol for the creation and execution of smart legal agreements

In this episode, Aaron and I discuss:

What OpenLaw is
What the SAFT is (including some of its lesser known deficiencies) -and-
The future of ICOs from a legal perspective

027: MyEtherWallet's Co-Founder–Taylor Monahan–Calls for More Women in Crypto Mar 09, 2018

Show notes

Taylor Monahan is the Co-Founder of MyEtherWallet, one of the most popular tools of choice for crypto-investors participating in ICOs on the Ethereum Blockchain.

Taylor recently launched a new venture – MyCrypto – an open-source, client-side tool for generating Ether wallets, handling ERC-20 tokens, and interacting with the Blockchain more easily.

In this episode, Taylor and I discuss:

How MyEtherWallet came to be
The absence of women in Crypto, and why this technology cannot go mainstream without women
James Damore, the Google Engineer who got fired for his controversial memo on women's suitability for engineering jobs (and what that has to do with the UFC and Ronda Rousey – yes, there is a connection)
Taylor's description of what the ideal ICO would look like
Her prediction for ICOs over the next decade (hint: it's not what you would think)

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